The main goal of the course is to broaden knowledge about substitution therapy in such specific conditions as penitentiary units. Participants have the opportunity to become acquainted with the main goals of substitution therapy and the benefits that prisons achieve by applying it. In addition, the most important methods of this type of treatment and its ethical basis have been described.

The content on this course is based on the expertise of scientists and medical doctors/psychiatrists/healthcare professionals working in the field of substitution treatment in prisons. Relevant international literature and databases have been reviewed in order to develop the best evidence based guidance. The publication follows the guidance and recommendations of several international publications such as the WHO Regional Office for Europe: Health in Prisons. A WHO guide to the essentials in prison health, the UNODC/UNAIDS/WHO framework for HIV prevention, care, treatment and support in prison settings, as well as the WHO/UNAIDS/UNODC Evidence for actions technical paper: Interventions to address HIV in prisons – Drug dependence treatment.

This course aims to provide information and practical guidance to support the implementation of NSP in prisons and other closed settings. The course presents models of PNSP that have been tried and evaluated around the world, and provides recommendations and practical advice on advocating, starting, scaling up and monitoring PNSP.

More than 40 experts from different regions of the world contributed to its development.

The intended audience for this course includes prison governors, administrators and staff, health-care managers and programme coordinators at all levels across all types of custodial institutions, prison administrations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and trade union officials.

In 1991, the World Health Organization reported that 23 of 52 prison system surveyed allowed condoms in correctional facilities. In 2016, prison jurisdictions is many countries, still do not allow prison inmates access to condoms despite evidence that HIV prevalence and transmission risks are higher within prisoner populations that general community. Condoms, if used correctly and consistently, cant prevent HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.

The “Harm reduction in prison” course provides a useful introduction to themes related to drug use in the prison setting and risks related to the transmission of infections through drug use and sexual activities, as well as an introduction on risk reduction strategies and services in prison both from the point of view of service description and of specific organisational and methodological aspects related to the provision of these services in a setting such as prisons.

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The website aims to collate and disseminate data and knowledge on drug use and related risks in prisons and on drug treatment, harm reduction, overdose prevention in custodial settings and reintegration upon release, with a view to ensuring continuity of care from prisons to the community for prisoners, aiming at high quality health care delivery.

The E-learning platform provides learning tools to get to know more about the above and on how to work with prisoners who have a drug misuse problem or are at risk of infections. It is open to practitioners from different fields working in prison or having an interest in prison health.

This site builds upon educational and informational content created within several EU projects, including recent CARE project. Materials from past project are accumulated here and made available to anybody interested.

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This website is part of the joint action ‘677085 / HA-REACT,’ which has received funding from the European Union’s Health Programme (2014-2020). The contents of this website are the sole responsibility of the project and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Commission.